On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States made the right to abortion across the country a law. The ruling, known as "Roe v. Wade", in place for almost half a century, stated that women had the right to abort  up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, . The Court’s decision at the time was passed by an overwhelming majority of 7-2, and was based on the 14th Amendment of the American Constitution that protects  the fundamental "right to privacy" of every individual.

"Jane Roe", the person who initially brought the case in the state of Texas, was the pseudonym for Norma Leah McCorvey, who claimed that she had become pregnant after being raped and thus should be able to abort the pregnancy. In Texas at the time, abortion was illegal except when needed to save the mother's life. 

With Roe v. Wade, McCorvey would pass from total anonymity to having her name associated with one of the greatest victories for women's rights in the history of the United States. McCorvey revealed her real name in the 1980s, and became involved in the US abortion rights movement. However, in 1987 she revealed that she had in fact lied about being raped, losing signifcant credibility with the movement. In the 1990s she again made a drastic turn, turning dramtically to religion, converting first to Evangelical Protestantism then to Roman Catholicism, and becoming a fervent anti-abortion activist to the end of her life, promising in 1998 to “help do anything to overturn Roe vs. Wade". Unfortunately for her, McCorvey died in 2017, and did not get to see her wish come true last Friday, June 22, 2022.

The Supreme Court of the United States has annulled the federal right to abortion. It did this while ruling on the case entitled "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization", a case that will now be enshrined in the judicial and social history of the United States. The turnabout of the Supreme Court was so sudden, and so contrary to its previous historical position and the dominant opinion of American society, that it resembles the numerous reversals of Norma Leah McCorvey's life.

“The US Constitution makes no reference to abortion” is the phrase that begins the 79-page brief by Justice Samuel Alito, author of the court's new majority opinion. And thus, the judges of the Court have returned to the 50 States the power to legislate on the matter. It is estimated that 26 States will prohibit the legal termination of pregnancy. President Joe Biden called the ruling “extreme”: “So extreme that women could be punished for protecting their health. So extreme that women and girls may be forced to give birth to their rapist's child." "The court has literally set America back 150 years," Biden added. For his part, Barack Obama has said that “the Supreme Court not only overturned a precedent of almost 50 years, but also relegated the most intensely personal decision that someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues, attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans.” The words of both these leaders fully convey, in my opinion, the harsh reality of this inflection point in history. 

America has been the democracy by which other democracies measured themselves. It has been the model for the separation of powers and the sacred respect of freedoms for centuries. However, on January 6 2021, the entire world witnessed the invasion of the United States Capitol building – the seat of the legislature – by the supporters of Donald Trump. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the history of the United States, an attempted "coup d'état" in the world's first democracy. "We will never give up" were Trump's words. The sad image of Trump trying desperately to hold onto power relegates the United States to another unreliable republic like all the others, and tarnishes its status as the standard to follow. Now with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we see another attempted coup d'état, a symbolic one, but also a real one, an invasion of the power of established government and law, and of the popular will of an American society that for 50 years has lived with the constitutional right to abortion.

Donald Trump promised as a candidate that he would appoint only those Supreme Court justices who would reverse Roe v. Wade. That promise gave Trump the all-important votes of the religious Right minority that he needed to win, although this was a group that generally despised him. But the end justified the means for them, because the recent ruling on Roe v. Wade was their dream come true, and demonstrates the autocratic power that accompanied Trump’s rule. Nothing could be further from the values of a Democracy and a republic than to go against the will of the majority for the sake of gaining power.

This decision of the Supreme Court has shocked the world. Imagine such a ruling in Europe, where Christine Lagarde, Ursula Von der Leyen and Roberta Metsola are the emblems of a modern, independent, and decisive woman participating in the building of society. A setback in women's rights would make such women impossible. Luckily, the legal systems of France, Spain and Italy have specific legislation that protects the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy. In Germany, where abortion is prohibited in principle, the rules are relaxing, with women now being able to choose to terminate a pregnancy before 12 weeks after conception, after seeking medical advice.

In the end, judicial bodies that judge the constitutionality of laws, like the US Supreme Court, must be more descriptive, adapting to modern social realities and the will of its people. They cannot deny the will of its society, transforming that will into a crime. The Supreme Court has made a grave mistake. And this is only the beginning of a social and political struggle that is going to further divide the states and the country, where each state must now enact their own legislation on abortion.
  

Norma Leah McCorvey, aka Jane Roe, said herself at one point said, “Abortion will continue, legal or not. Women will die for this." and "Jane Roe is every woman who has been denied something in her life."

English text by Meredith Brunel